tomatoes, olive oil and S&P waiting to be roasted
The warmer New England weather is starting to remind me of the summer foods I’ve missed all winter. Top of my list? Fresh tomatoes!
Grocery stores have been taunting me with tomato sales but I know they’re not yet in season. There is nothing quite like a just-picked tomato at the height of its season (or any produce, for that matter). My dad grew them nearly every summer in the garden when we were kids. He’d have competitions with a fellow gardner friend and I have vivid memories of secret tricks and strange apparatuses surrounding the tomato plants in the garden. My mom would make tomato and cheese sandwiches for us to enjoy at the peak of tomato season — hearty white bread spread with Miracle Whip then stacked with layers of sliced tomatoes and cheddar cheese & a little sprinkle of S&P. Yum…summer in sandwich!
So back to my point….since cherry tomatoes have been on sale quite a bit, Jess has been buying them. They were fine tossed into my lunch salads but I wanted a way to make them more delicious. Flour Bakery (a Boston area delight) is smart — and their BLT is the best BLT I’ve ever had in my life. I dream about it. One of their secrets? They roast the tomatoes when they’re not in season in order to bring out their yumminess. Roasting also rids them of that gross mealy texture that often plagues out-of-season tomatoes. The recipe I used as a guide states, “roasting concentrates their flavor, turning the tomatoes into savory, tender little umami bombs”. Genius, right? It’s very easy & roasted tomatoes are a perfect addition to any recipe, sandwich, salad, pizza, pasta/rice salad, etc. — the possibilities are endless. We added them to a homemade pizza with oven roasted rosemary lemon turkey breast and banana pepper rings.
top: before roasting, middle: after first 20 minutes, last: after roasting
Oven Roasted Tomatoes (adapted from America’s Test Kitchen: DIY Cookbook, Oven Dried Tomatoes)
Ingredients
12 ounces – 1 pint of cherry tomatoes (grape tomatoes would work fine, too)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste
Steps
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
- Rinse the tomatoes and lightly pat dry with a clean dish towel.
- Cut each tomato in 1/2 lengthwise & toss into a small bowl (with enough room for tossing later).
- Add olive oil, salt & pepper to the bowl and toss to evenly coat the tomatoes.
- Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper (or aluminum foil) for easy clean-up. Place a wire rack on top of the prepared baking sheet and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- Place the seasoned tomatoes on the rack cut side down (not all of mine were facing down & they turned out fine).
- Place tomatoes into the oven for 20 minutes.
- Carefully remove the baking sheet from the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to 300 degrees.
- Use a fork to carefully flip the tomato halves cut side up and remove any tomato skin that has fallen off. If all of your tomatoes still have the skin on them, there’s no need to remove it since cherry tomatoes have such tender skin.
- Place them back in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven & allow to cool to room temperature before enjoying.
Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a week.
roasted tomatoes standing by to be the next pizza topping
sippetsandsharpies 
Hollah at us!